Operational Data Stores

There are two main types of databases in use by public safety and justice
agencies: transactional databases, at the heart of CAD, Records and other
systems; and data warehouses. Transactional databases are designed for
responsiveness - getting the data in and working with it in a particular
context. Data warehouses are designed for slicing and dicing the data for
analysis - often long-term, statistical analysis rather than real-time decision
making.

Typically, when a police officer needs data a federated query is performed
against all participating system's transactional databases. Each database is
different, of course, and each is optimized for being a CAD or Records, etc.,
transactional database.

An Operational Data Store (ODS), on the other hand, is designed to get at the
data for informational and real-time decision making. If data is already flowing
through a system, as it is in Geneva, then no federated queries are necessary if
an optional Geneva ODS is installed. A Geneva ODS has a Gateway, just like all
the other connected systems, and it subscribes to data exchanges, just like all
the other Gateways. Consequently, no federated queries are necessary.
Information requests can be sent to the Geneva ODS, a database designed solely
for the purpose of providing real-time information to police officers,
firefighters and other public safety and justice professionals.

NIEM Based Schemas

Whereas NIEM is designed for data exchanges and is hierarchical in structure,
databases are designed for storage and retrieval and are relational in structure.
However, NIEM provides the industry with schemas and names for many commonly
used entities, such as persons, locations, etc. There are also many reference
IEPDs from organizations such as IACP/LEITSC, the FBI, etc., that provide widely
applicable and used definitions of more specific entities such as service calls,
units, arrests, warrants, etc.

Geneva ODS schemas are based on NIEM and on these reference IEPDs. A user who has
worked with NIEM data will immediately be able to understand and work with the
ODS.

Below are examples of optional Geneva ODS's currently available.

Master Index

Geneva's Federated Law Enforcement IndeX (FLEx) is designed to be a cross-system
master name, master location, master organization, master phone and master
everything index. Responding to a location? Find out its history before arriving
on scene. Have a suspect? Get his or her history right away.

Many systems participating in a federation already have master indices. But
those master indices
aren't connected, though many situations, subjects, etc., cross jurisdictional boundaries. Geneva's
FLEx can give officers the information they need to formulate all-important links in a
federated system.

Status ODS

What's going on in your area? Where are the police, sheriff or fire calls right
now? Where are your units and those of other agencies in your, or neighboring,
jurisdictions? What's the state of the roads? The power grid? Where are all the
on-duty SWAT team members?

Geneva's Status ODS is designed to answer all those questions in real time. It is
also designed to allow you to replay history as it can provide complete status
snapshots for any instant in the past (or, if you are worried about keeping too
much past history around Geneva allows you to keep as much or as little history
as you want).

The NIEM-based Geneva Status ODS is primarily based upon the entities and data
defined by IACP/LEITSC in IEPDs such as DetailedCFSInformation and
UnitStatusUpdate.

Law Enforcement ODS

For those who need more than a set of master indices, a Law Enforcement ODS is
often the right answer. Fusion centers, intelligence, even officers on the beat.

The NIEM-based Geneva Law Enforcement ODS implements the entities and data
defined by the FBI in their National Data Exchange (N-Dex) Incident/Arrest and
Incarceration/Booking/Probation/Parole IEPDs.